Addressing the Holy Trinity of energy use

March 16, 2008

I want to get a handle on using less energy in my home. There are only three of us, but where do you suggest I start?

Cut energy use by first concentrating on the big three — space conditioning, water heating and refrigeration. Typically these are a great place to start when it comes to having an impact on your energy use.

Space conditioning  

If you look at the total amount of energy used in a home, space conditioning typically accounts for about 45 percent. Managing space conditioning boils down to two simple things,  “how to get heat (or cool air) into the house and how to keep it there,” according to our energy counselor Rick Cantonwine.

How efficiently the conditioned air enters your house will depend on your heating or air conditioning system. Make sure it is tuned up occasionally and filters are clean. Cantonwine said a good rule of thumb is to hold the filter up to the light and if you cannot see the light through it, it’s time for a clean one.

Next, make sure ductwork is checked during your tune-up, or check them yourself. Leaky or disconnected ducts waste a lot of heat. If you don’t want to crawl under the house, check the air flowing from registers in two adjacent rooms. The amount of air flow should be about equal. If it is radically different there may be a problem.

Finally, add insulation and seal air leaks around doors and windows to keep conditioned air in the house. Insulation affects how hard your furnace must work as well as what size of heating/cooling system your home needs.

Water heating

Dripping faucets and leaks can drive up your water heating costs fast — wasting water and money. Cantonwine said he recently discovered a leak under a customer’s house that resulted in the customer’s energy use doubling.

Showers use less water than baths. Save even more by installing a low-flow showerhead that uses only 2.5 gallons per minute, compared to others that use about 3 to 3.5 gallons of water a minute. A very old showerhead can use up to 5 gallons per minute.

In the laundry, wash clothes in cold water when you can and always use a cold water rinse. Keep the water heater set between 120 degrees and 130 degrees. Turn off the water heater at the electrical service panel when going on vacation. If it is a gas water heater, turn it off at the bottom of the tank. Some tanks have a “vacation” setting. It makes no sense to heat water when no one is home. Plus it only takes about an hour or so to heat water after turning it on.

Refrigeration

“Get rid of the old refrigerator you don’t need,” Cantonwine advised. “We see this fairly frequently where the kids have moved out and there’s still a fridge running in the garage, sitting empty and wasting energy.”

The utility will arrange to have old refrigerators recycled for free just to get the energy hogs off the electrical system. The only condition is that the refrigerator or freezer need to be working and at least 14 cubic feet in size. Recycling is included as well when you replace your refrigerator with an Energy Star qualified model purchased from a participating Clark County retailer.

You should also clean refrigerator coils twice a year. It is an easy way to reduce energy consumption on one of the larger appliances.
Finally, make sure the door seals on refrigerators and freezers are tight and don’t leave doors open longer than necessary.

Other tips

There are smaller changes you can make in your home, such as switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs. While such changes may not make a huge difference in your energy bill, they are easy to do so why not do them? You’ll be helping the environment too. Install weather stripping and caulking around doors and windows, turn off electronics when not in use and unplug power chargers after charging